Texans Post game Thread

If we let Murray go and choose to go RB in the mid rounds this guy is a nice counter point to our midgets.

A 240 pound hammer would be a nice guy to have.

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It looks like he's got decent speed (got caught from behind a few times in the video), good vision and brings some serious power to the table. I could handle taking him in the 3rd or 4th. We should tag McGloin and trade him to the Browns for their 4th and use that on this guy. lol

End of Raiders’ season is really just the beginning
By Ann Killion
January 7, 2017 Updated: January 8, 2017 3:38pm

HOUSTON — It was hard to see the positives in the wreckage. The names stacked on the injury report. The lopsided score. The futility on third down.

The overall misery of the end of the Raiders’ once bright and promising season.

But the good omens are there, if you sift through the debris.

Even though the Raiders’ first playoff game in 14 seasons ended almost as badly as their last one — the 48-21 loss in Super Bowl XXXVII.

Even though the 27-14 loss to the Texans was as bad as everyone feared two weeks ago, when Derek Carr broke his leg, effectively ending the Raiders’ hopes and dreams.

Here’s the positive to take away:

“Like I told them in there,” head coach Jack Del Rio said after he spoke to the team in the postgame locker room, “this is just the beginning.

“We’re just getting started.”

That is true. The barbs and hysteria that were being thrown about on social media over the Raiders’ general ineffectiveness Saturday seemed to ignore two primary issues.

First, that the team’s MVP candidate Carr was sidelined and a rookie who had never been active on game day until six days earlier was under center. In a playoff game.
“It was his first start, on the road, in a playoff game against the No. 1-ranked defense,” Del Rio said of Connor Cook. “Tough draw for him.”

Slightly. And while people want to bring up other teams — like the 2008 Patriots — that won games without their brilliant starter (though that team didn’t qualify for the playoffs), there has arguably never been a bigger drop-off in NFL history. That’s because Cook was the first quarterback ever to make his first start in the playoffs. From MVP candidate to absolute raw, untested rookie.

Kind of a big deal.

Secondly, the critics forgot that the Raiders are a year ahead of schedule. The team went 7-9 last season and didn’t qualify for the playoffs. At the beginning of the year, the hope was to merely squeak into the postseason, probably in the same position that they ended up on Saturday — as a wild card playing on the road.

But those first 15 games, which resulted in 12 wins, ramped up the expectations. The dreams. The hopes.

And they all came crashing down in the massive expanse of NRG Stadium. On the same field where the November 2016 Raiders might have dreamt of playing in Super Bowl LI in a month.

“I don’t think you can eliminate the abrupt ending that you don’t want,” Del Rio said. “But I don’t think you can dismiss what we accomplished. We had a great beginning.

“We’ve come a ways, for sure. We’re going to push for more.”

The game plan — asking little of Cook and relying on defense and field position — unraveled early. Backed up in his own end zone, Cook made an ill-advised throw and Jadeveon Clowney made a circus-catch interception worthy of Odell Beckham Jr.

Houston, which wasn’t expected to score much behind Brock Osweiler, had a quick 10-0 lead and the Raiders were playing catch-up. Which meant Cook throwing twice as much (45 times) as the plan had been. The pressure was on the defense, which — as it has all season — played in fits and starts. The Raiders’ defense never forced a turnover, something for which Osweiler can usually be counted on.

Cook, who won’t be blamed for this loss except by the foolish, was calm afterward.

“I expected to be better,” he said.

After the game, the Raiders were frustrated but seemed resigned. This was a team that had fought hard, had won six road games, had been brimming with confidence. But they are a young team. Just nine starters had any playoff experience, and two with some of the most — Michael Crabtree and Malcolm Smith — left the game with injuries.

After 14 long years without a sniff at the playoffs, and too many embarrassingly bad seasons, the Raiders and their fans had expected more. But everyone needs to remember: The coach is in his second year, the team has been put together over the past four drafts, the roster is young and learning.

Instead of a surprising road win, the Raiders got something that young teams usually need at some point: a tough lesson.

“If you can skip it, I’d love to skip it,” Del Rio said. “But the way I approach it is you go forward. You believe, you teach and grow. You know what you want it to look like and you grow stronger.

“Do you have growing pains? Yes.”

Saturday was a day of growing pains. But like Del Rio told his young team, this is just the beginning.

With a healthy Carr and a tough lesson learned, the Raiders will most certainly be back next year. And the rest of the league knows it.

Reminds me a bit of leveon bell. I would love to have him. Im not sure we will go rb early though. Hell you want a slot wr/dynamic playmaker i would get dj pumphrey from SDSU. Dude is a darren sproles type player imo who will be good out of the backfield/ in the slot. Am i wrong? Thoughts

Kid is filthy! Never heard of him surprisingly. Does he get past the 1st? Does red roll the dice on a tailback in the 1st? Especially not a sure fire back like Elliott? Hmmm

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Yeah- he wont go in the 1st 2 rd's... probably a late 3rd at best.. I see him as a 4th-5th rd guy- people will bring up his competition.. but they said the same thing about the other Mack... The tapes don't do this kid justice- he's electric live. I like Richard and Washington so I wouldnt drop anything earlier than a 4th on the kid- I just hope he doesn't end up on the fuckin Chiefs... that would just tear the ass outta me-

Defense is the obvious priority. We turn every no name qb into Peyton Manning.

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Zero sacks; zero QB hits. Think about that. We were going up against Osewieler. We have Mack and Irvin on the outside. Yes, we need more talent in the interior. But, shit, got to believe you can scheme a few sacks in the biggest game of the season. And it was not for lack of trying. Norton blitzed. Coverage either didn't hold up or the OL saw the blitz coming a mile a way.

Zero sacks; zero QB hits. Think about that. We were going up against Osewieler. We have Mack and Irvin on the outside. Yes, we need more talent in the interior. But, shit, got to believe you can scheme a few sacks in the biggest game of the season. And it was not for lack of trying. Norton's blitzed. Coverage either didn't hold up or the OL saw the blitz coming a mile a way.

Even if we have overestimated the competency of our defense players - the coaching staff is supposed to maximize each
players abilities and put them in a position to succeed.....I'm not too sure this is what is happening in Oakland.

I think there are several other coaches that could have done more with this unit.